Complete Non-Residential / Business Property Rates Data (Q2 2020)

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Wellingborough Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Wellingborough Borough Council,

In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section 40(2) on personal data, could you please provide me with your local authority’s complete and most-recently updated list of all business (non-residential) property rates data, including the following fields:

- Billing Authority Property Reference Code (linking the property to the public VOA database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant or ratepayer)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupation / Vacancy status
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds) and/or categories of reliefs/exemptions granted

If you are unable to provide an absolute “Occupation / Vacancy” status, please provide the Exemptions and / or Reliefs that a particular property may be receiving.

NOTE: While FOIs are meant to be requestor blind, these data are actively used by national government and UK universities to inform the economic response to COVID-19. Commercial ratepayer data are always of public interest but, in the midst of a global pandemic and its consequent devastating economic fallout, these data are vital to track business behaviour and guide government and enterprise adaptation to the social impact of COVID-19. Please publish quickly so that organisations trying to support your local authority can do so, and, if you have any difficulties, please contact me so that I may help.

Please provide these data as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence (reuse for any and all purposes, including commercial).

I last requested these data three months ago, and this is a request for your latest updated dataset.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Chait

Lucy DaSantos, Wellingborough Borough Council

Dear Gavin

 

I write in response to your request made under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, on 09 July 2020.

 

The Borough Council of Wellingborough confirms that this information is
held.

 

However, this information is temporarily inaccessible.

 

The Borough Council of Wellingborough has a shared IT service with East
Northamptonshire Council; and as such we moved onto the same datacentre as
them earlier this year. This has placed restrictions on us being able to
access our reporting tool necessary to extract the requested information.
However, new software is set to be released in order to rectify this; and
once implemented we will again be able to extract this data with relative
ease.

 

I must advise that this is reliant on our IT systems; and at present
resources are heavily diverted in order to support the Covid-19 response.

 

As such, the Borough Council of Wellingborough is on this occasion
engaging Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act: information
intended for future publication. We regret to advise that unfortunately
without this software, there is simply no other way of extracting the
requested data.

 

Kind Regards

 

Lucy DaSantos

Information Officer

Borough Council of Wellingborough

 

 

From: Gavin Chait [mailto:[FOI #675405 email]]
Sent: 09 July 2020 06:56
To: info - Shared Mailbox
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Complete Non-Residential /
Business Property Rates Data (Q2 2020)

 

This Message originated outside your organisation.

Dear Wellingborough Borough Council,

In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section
40(2) on personal data, could you please provide me with your local
authority’s complete and most-recently updated list of all business
(non-residential) property rates data, including the following fields:

- Billing Authority Property Reference Code (linking the property to the
public VOA database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant or ratepayer)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupation / Vacancy status
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds) and/or categories of
reliefs/exemptions granted

If you are unable to provide an absolute “Occupation / Vacancy” status,
please provide the Exemptions and / or Reliefs that a particular property
may be receiving.

NOTE: While FOIs are meant to be requestor blind, these data are actively
used by national government and UK universities to inform the economic
response to COVID-19. Commercial ratepayer data are always of public
interest but, in the midst of a global pandemic and its consequent
devastating economic fallout, these data are vital to track business
behaviour and guide government and enterprise adaptation to the social
impact of COVID-19. Please publish quickly so that organisations trying to
support your local authority can do so, and, if you have any difficulties,
please contact me so that I may help.

Please provide these data as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft
Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government
Licence (reuse for any and all purposes, including commercial).

I last requested these data three months ago, and this is a request for
your latest updated dataset.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Chait

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #675405 email]

Is [Wellingborough Borough Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Wellingborough Borough Council? If so, please contact us using
this form:
[1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[3]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

All emails and attachments from employees of the Borough Council of
Wellingborough are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity
to whom they are addressed and are opened at your own risk. If you are not
the intended recipient please notify the sender immediately and delete the
mail from your system. Unauthorised use or disclosure may be unlawful.
Opinions expressed in this email may not be official policy of the Borough
Council of Wellingborough. The information contained in this e-mail, and
in your reply, may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
2. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
3. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...